Spirited designer Jonathan Adler is known for his maximalist style. So when we asked him to devise three different palettes for one living space, he mixed and matched tones and patterns with abandon. In each version, he kept three white elements constant: a tufted-back velvet sofa, a lacquer sideboard, and an oversize ceramic lamp base—all from his own furniture collection. "It's a good idea to choose foundational pieces that are not too over-the-top, because it gives you freedom to play with the accessories," says Adler. And that's just what he did, introducing color via throw pillows, rugs, lighting, chairs, drapery, vases, wallpaper, and paint. He combined classic items with fresh (and budget-friendly) finds, proving that you can change the whole look of a room without ever switching out the key components.

For this scheme, Adler gave a classic color combo a shot of sass. "It's about being very graphic—layering so you have black in front of white and vice-versa, which makes all the elements pop," he says. Squares are the dominant motif, from the white lacquer cutout screen to the wool pillows to the hand-loomed rug. To break up the straight lines, the designer introduced a curvy glass-topped coffee table, coral-patterned drapery, and votives made of jagged rock crystal. Silver tones brought in by the lampshade, mirrored vase, and console offer eye-catching sheen. To add a splash of pink and green, Adler tucked a beautiful bird-of-paradise into his textured ceramic vase.

"If you have a neutral foundation, you can go crazy with colorful accents," says Adler, who framed this riotous room with patterned drapery in brilliant shades of pink, yellow, and lime green, then added an aqua-colored wall and bright orange plastic chair. "There are many elements of playfulness and whimsy here," he says. Quirky wool pillows with fruit motifs echo the yellow in the fabric; they also offset the orange ribbon around the black lampshade and array of vessels in varied shapes and materials atop the console. Adler's blue-and-green-striped ceramic vase is filled with perky daisies to brighten the muted Parsons-style coffee table and the off-white flokati rug on which it rests. The designer made sure to stagger the heights of the accessories—the vessels as well as the pillows—for visual interest and balance.

For this more elegant and soothing space, Adler went beyond beige and layered tones of copper, chestnut, and taupe. "It's about the quiet use of color and rich variation of texture," he says. Natural elements were key, from the sea-grass rugs and grass-cloth wallpaper to the burlap fabric reinvented as drapery. Adler also employed shine to draw the eye in. He added hints of glimmer with two brass sunburst wall mirrors, a speckled bronze-colored lampshade, gold-striped ceramic bowls, and a small mirrored vase, which he placed on the plywood coffee table. Even the sequins on the throw—a shawl used in traditional Moroccan weddings—bounce light around the room. Small doses of color, from the amber glass vessels to the needlepoint pillows on the sofa and wicker swing, pump up the palette. Adler enhanced the scheme's visual harmony by repeating circular geometric shapes throughout: The round paper lantern plays off the circular centers of the mirror and the console, while echoing the form of the coffee table.